The growth rate of the quality of life in Poland is increasing. The standard of living of Poles is growing faster than that of the wealthier economies.

In the latest edition of the Boston Consulting Group report, which is prepared from 10 years, Poland reached a relatively high, 30^th position out of 162 encompassed countries. This means that when it comes to quality of life, we are right behind Spain, and right before… Italy which came in at 31^st. This is the first report in which the Republic of Poland succeeded in catching up with not only the south European countries struggling with crisis, but also some “Old Union” members.

Taking into consideration GDP per capita, Poland is as far as 46^th in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund data. But GDP is not enough. It is an index which does not show the full picture of state development, and certainly does not reflect quality of life in a given country. This is why Boston Consulting Group from several years have been calculating the SEDA (Sustainable Economic Development Assessment) index presenting quality of life in a particular country. In this broader perspective, Poland advances significantly, as it is placed 30^th out of 164 countries under review.

However, the most important thing is that Poland is most actively catching up with the most developed countries.

It should be also noted how Poland stands in comparison with other countries our citizens emigrate to most often, i.e. Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, and Norway. Even though there is still a considerable gap between us when it comes to salaries and employment, Poland looks better with respect to healthcare and education.

When it comes to the pace of advancement, we occupy the high, 5th spot, falling behind mostly African countries and China, which is ranked 2^nd. The standard of living is improving the quickest for Ethiopians. Last year’s leader was Rwanda.

Creators of the assessment noticed in Poland there is a significant improvement with regard to economic stability, level of education and quality of infrastructure. The quality of healthcare is also improving. Unfortunately, we have a lot to do when it comes to environment. Apart from that, what works to our detriment is the income, which is significantly lower than the European average, and certainly than this of the inhabitants of the Western Europe.

As „Rzeczpospolita”, the first newspaper who published the report on Poland, highlights, the assessment on the quality of life is not in line with the results of the World Happiness Report prepared annually by the UN. Despite the high level of wealth, the inhabitants of Union score lower than the inhabitants of the countries that are considerably poorer, e.g. South American or Caribbean. Poles are also not classified as very happy, as in the list of the happiest nations we came in at as far as 57^th.